Frostbite
by Rose.A.Harvey
Summary: "Thinks he's so perfect." A disgruntled blonde hisses to her white snowman-dog hybrid. "Natsu-frickin-Dragneel." She screws up her nose in distaste, continuing to stalk aggressively down Strawberry Street with a terrifying frown that promised impending doom to passersby above her head. One-Shot


"Thinks he's so perfect." A disgruntled blonde hisses to her white snowman-dog hybrid. "Natsu-frickin-Dragneel." She screws up her nose in distaste, continuing to stalk aggressively down Strawberry Street with a terrifying frown that promised impending doom to passersby above her head. Storm clouds rumble above her head, the past week had hosted several bad storms complete with rain, wind, hail, lightning, thunder and a tornado just outside the town, which was quickly subdued-read eaten-by Wendy herself. All the rain had caused the river to overflow twice and now it was rushing at an incredible rate.

"God I _hate_ him." She clomps along the ledge of the river unhappily.

"Careful Lucy-chan!" The two boatmen call from their house on the other side of the river. The two exchanges confused looks as the usually chipper blonde tosses her hair over her shoulder, ignoring their warning.

"Pun-pun." Plue observes. "Pun-puuuuun."

"Stupid Natsu. Stupid firepowers. Stupid mission." With each declaration of everything 'stupid' Lucy's voice grew higher and more hostile. "Stupid- OH!" Before she could finish her last sentence, the heel on her left shoe snaps, sending her toppling into the water. Lucy gasps as she hits the water, unintentionally breathing in icy water that assail her lungs. She attempts to cough it up, panicking, however due to her underwaterness, she only snorts more water in through her nose, filling her lungs up with what seemed to be half the river. The water pushes her backwards, or maybe it's up? Her hand snags on something hard and she feels her skin tear open. _Shit._ Leaden ice seeps into her blood. _Cold._ Desperately, she tries to lift her arms to swim up, but with the cascading water, she can't tell which way is up and which way was down. _No. Please.  
><em> Arms flailing, legs kicking frantically, Lucy propels herself in a direction that is unclear. With surprising speed, she hits her head on something hard. Black spots appear in her vision. _No. _The spots bloomed into flowers that seemed to entice death and her limbs stop moving, something thick and dark streams past her ear, if she was in any state to panic, she would have as a copious amount of blood flows out from her temple, surely enough to kill the girl. Lucy's body thrashes with the flow of the water. Blinking rapidly, Lucy's head lolls to the side as her mind too becomes overcome with water. _Natsu. _Lucy's mind became blank as her body continues to be swayed by the water. A large mass appears before her unconscious body, fighting the current with what was clearly desperation. A stream of bubbles emerges from the mass and a strong, large hand wraps itself around her upper arm, hoisting her towards the dark form. The form kicks what it knows to be up, pulling Lucy with it. The two heads break through the waters surface, Lucy unknowingly, her rescuer panting. Adjusting Lucy so his hand wraps under both her arms, Natsu swims to the side of the river. He pushes her limp, frozen body up onto the ledge then heaves himself up beside her. He coughs once, a bit of water splattering the ground. His hair is plastered to his neck and face.

"Lucy." He croaks at her, tapping her face softly with a finger. "Shit. I don't know how this works." He cries with anguish. Tilting her head to the side, he presses both hands to her chest and pushes down hard. He presses down again, surely bruising her skin. A little water streams out of her mouth. He presses again and again, forcing her chest down, water continues to spill from her mouth and gather in a pool on the pavement, mingling with the blood. "Lucy." He calls to his friend. "Lucy." His voice breaks with horror. "No Lucy." He pumps faster and, after hesitating a second, he shifts her head back, blocks her nose and fits his mouth over hers. He blows a small breath into her, and her lungs rise.  
>"Luce?" He asks, but the pale, corpse of his best friend does not respond. "Lucy!" He cries, his voice louder. He blows air into her again and resumes compressing her chest. "Lucy! No. Please." Natsu's ears pricked keenly searching for the heartbeat that had quickly turned into his favorite song, with no luck. Lucy's body remained stiff and cold. "No. No." He leans down again, and tries to get her chest to rise on it's own. "Help!" He screeches, fat tears rolling down his cheeks. "Please someone help me!" He presses her chest again, movements frantic. "Please!" His voice cracks and his tears drop onto the blonde's face. "Some one! She's dying! PLEASE! HELP ME!"<br>At some point it had started raining, large raindrops poured down from the sky, mirroring the sea of desperation in Natsu's eyes. "Luce. Goddamn it Lucy Heartfillia, you can't die! What a stupid way to die you idiot!" He leans in again and blows another breath into her lungs. Then, without warning, Lucy's body convulses. "No." Natsu wails. He compresses her chest again and her body shudders with breath. Natsu's discerning ears prick up at the sound of an oh-so-faint _doki_. "Luce." His voice wavers, not daring to believe it. He puffs another gust of air into her lungs and quickly returns to compressions. _Doki, doki. Doki, doki._

"Yes. That's it Luce. Wake up. Come on." Lucy's body shakes, after a second she coughs violently and she turns towards Natsu on her side and more water expels from her lungs.

"Lucy!" Natsu cries, leaning forward, inspecting his friend. "Oh crap, your head." He unwinds his scarf from his neck and holds it to her head.

Lucy turns slightly and glances up at her friend, who she noted had red, puffy distressed eyes.

"Hey." She rasps and with the movement, and immediate threat of panic gone, Natsu finally notices that her lips, ears, fingertips, and nose are a scary shade of blue.

Natsu gasps in disbelief, hand still holding his scarf to her head his face breaks out in a grin. Not his usual 'devil-may-care' grin, but a grin that warmed Lucy from the inside, the kind you might give your lover at the end of a particularly long day.

"Hey yourself." He leans down and rests his forehead against hers.

"Mmm." Lucy groans in discomfort.

"How many fingers?" He held up four fingers in front of her face.

"Four."

"What day is it?"

"Natsu." She whines, out of breath and clearly exhausted.

"Did you hurt your back when you fell?" He asks.

"Mm-mm." She moans in the negative.

"Okay. I'm gonna pick you up, tell me if it hurts." He whispers.

"I'm still angry with you." Her voices cracks twice and wavers at the end.

Natsu snorts and gently gathers her legs in one arm and her upper body in the other. "Yeah, I'm mad with you too, but that can wait. Hold this." He moves her hand to the scarf at her head and begins to walk slowly towards her apartment some 100 meters away from where Lucy had been before she fell. His legs shake slightly from the far-from-warm dip he'd just taken.

"Jeez, you're blue Luce."

"Mmm." She wriggles her nose slightly, the way she does when she's content.

"Not your colour. I like you in red."

She blows on his neck softly in protest before deciding that she needed to preserve her air so she could breathe properly again. Natsu lapses into silence and Lucy's eyes flutter shut.

"Don't go to sleep."

"Uh." She murmurs questioningly.

"See? You're at home. Have a bath and then sleep. Sleep when you're warm."

Somehow he manages to open the door, without disturbing the frozen girl in his arms, and walks upstairs, flicking the light on with his elbow. He sets the blonde icicle on the couch with the utmost care and races into the bathroom, turning on the bath before returning to the girl on the couch.

"Hey. No sleeping." He shakes her gently.

"Not."

"Were."

"Not."

"I'm not gonna argue, it's not good for you. How's your head?"

"Ouch."

Natsu takes her hand in his and tenderly cups her face with his other hand, pulling the scarf away. His fingers lightly brush over the head wound on her temple, causing her to suck in a quick breath and wince. After fetching her first aid kit from the kitchen, he wraps a bandage around her head. Her eyes lidded and unfocused on him as he took care of her head wound.

"You did a good job of it Luce. It'll bruise, but you'll be okay. I'm gonna check on the bath."

Lucy's fingers reach out and touch his neck. "Cold." She murmurs, twining her fingers in his vest and pulling his closer.

"I know Lucy, I'm gonna get you in the bath."

"No. You."

"Lucy, you'll freeze."

"You."

"Lucy."

"You."

"Luce, you've gotta get warm okay? The bath will be nice and warm I promise."

"No."

"I'm gonna turn it off. When I come back I'm gonna help you okay?"

"Mmmm."

Natsu strides into the bathroom and switches off the taps, sighing heavily he walks out to go and convince his friend that she needed to take a bath. Rather than finding her on the couch where he left her, he finds her on the floor, weakly trying to stand.

"What the hell are you doing?" He hisses at her angrily.

"No bath. Bed. Natsu. Warm."

"Yes bath." He pulls her up and starts to escort her to the bathroom.

"No. Water." She tugs away from him, suddenly full of energy and he stops, finally understanding.

"Oh." _She's scared._ "How about I have a bath with you?"

Her face flushes and he quickly amends his words. "Not naked obviously, but you really need to get warm Luce."

She stares at him with exhausted eyes and finally nods. Natsu strips off his vest and pants, standing in only his boxers.

"Uh, do, uh… Do ya' um…"

"Help." Lucy asks quietly, still shivering from the cold. As quickly and chastely as he could, Natsu peels off her shirt and skirt, undoes the buckles of her shoes and steps back.

"Um… I'll get in first okay?"

He lowers his body into the water, his unnatural heat causing the water to heat up and steam to rise. He shifts his back against the edge of the bathtub and waits for his companion to get in opposite him. Instead, surprising him completely, she slides in the water, her back against his front.

"Lucy?"

"Warm."

She leans her head back on his shoulder, cheeks touching and closes her eyes. Natsu curls one arm around her waist as Lucy stretches out her legs. They lay like that for a while, Natsu re-heating the water when it turns cold, their fingers and toes wrinkling up from the water.

"Natsu?"

"Yeah?"

"Bedtime."

"Okay sweetheart." He replies groggily.

Her eyes open and she turns to face him, face flushing, he stares back, unaware that he'd said anything out of the ordinary. His features re-arrange themselves into a puzzled expression, after a second she shakes her head and lifts herself out of the water, giving Natsu an-ahem-_eyeful_.

"I've only got one towel."

Natsu follows her out of the bath, pulls the plug and sets himself on fire, causing Lucy to gasp. The flames subside and a grinning Natsu reappears, totally dry.

"I'll get your Pyjamas."

He closes the bathroom door behind him and opens Lucy's top draw where her underwear and Pyjamas were kept. Grinning devilishly, he pulls out the red top and black pants that Erza had persuaded her to buy. They weren't revealing like most of Lucy's other clothes tended to be, but they were red. Opening the bathroom door a fraction, he slips his hand inside the room, handing the top and pants to the blonde woman.

Once dressed, Lucy walks out into the living/bedroom to find the lights already switched off and the curtains drawn. A large mound lies in her bed with two sable eyes gleaming. Carefully she picks her way over to her friend.

"That's _my _bed."

Without a word, he opens his arms, holding up the blankets asking her to come and cuddle. A soft smile tugs at her lips and she obliges, settling into the broad chest of the Dragon Slayer.

"You're not blue anymore Luce. How's your head?"

"Better."

The two lay in silence for a while, the clouds outside dispersing, revealing a clear night sky.

"Natsu."

"Yeah?"

"I'm still mad at you."

He snorts in amusement, his chest vibrating with the sound.

"Luce you're always mad at me."

* * *

><p><strong>No editing because yolo. Because I hate editing mostly. Yah. I'm that lazy. <strong>

**Does anyone have tips for studying for exams and stuff? Because I've never had to learn how to study before and I'm trying to teach myself how to study while trying to study and it's really hard.**

**Peacekeeper has hit a road/mental/icantfuckingdothisshit block and is still in the process of being writted. Never fear. (That English doe)**

**Thanks for reading, Read and Review! Also, to get myself back into writing (because I've taken a much needed, but far too long break) I am taking requests! Yes, on my profile, you will find a lists of anime, books and movies that I am willing to write short one-shots on. Zing/PM me your OTP and I'll write one for YOU and dedicated it to you. XXX  
><strong>

**Much love.**

**Rose-chan**


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